Digital Invasion
by Omnimon2688
Summary: Two humans are the only line of defense against a potential invasion


A male sat at a desk in a well-lit dorm room. He sighed lightly as he opened up a simple spiral notebook and pulled a pen out of a drawer.

"Well, here goes nothing…" he muttered as he placed the pen to the paper and began to write…

* * *

_"__I suppose you expect to hear how it all started right? How we went through trials and tribulations to get to where we are now? Well, sorry to burst your bubble but that stuff makes for a bad story. Sure it was interesting while it happened but we all know that stuff tends to bog down…especially when re-telling the accounts__…_ _Well, how about the short version huh? Would it be ok if I wrapped up much of the last few months into a short little flashback? No? Well…screw you because I am going to do that.__"_

_

* * *

_

**_Ace grumbled as the sound of the beeping alarm clock slowly raised him out of the dream he was having. He was alone with this girl in his class, Renee, just the two of them, kissing passionately. Ace pulled back from the kiss, looked the girl in her beautiful hazel eyes and smiled. _**

**_"_****_You_****_'_****_re so beautiful Renee" he whispered. Renee grinned and pushed the boy with an athletic build back softly to get a better look at him. She ran her hands through his ruffled brown hair before reaching down and taking his navy t-shirt off and tossed it onto a random desk. _**

**_"_****_Come here sexy" she called, giving Ace a look that just screamed come and get me. Just as he unhooked her bra, his eyes opened. _**

**_"_****_Damnit!" He yelled, slamming his fists onto the mattress._**

**_"_****_What_****_'_****_s wrong with you?" a voice called from the bottom bunk. Ace leaned over the side of the bed, his messy brown hair hung down towards the ground as his tired light brown eyes focused on his bunkmate._**

**_"_****_I had that dream again Kaze…" Ace sighed and looked at his friend. Kaze had black hair with blue on the tips. It was decent length that went down to the base of his face, at least along the sides. The front was short, just covering the forehead, and somehow he always managed to keep the hair pin straight. How did he manage that, Ace never could figure out. _**

**_"_****_Again? Geeze man, would you just ask her out already or…something." Kaze replied as he pulled the blanket over his head and rolled over so he faced the wall. Ace sighed as he hung over the side._**

**_"_****_Wake up you lazy butt…we have class in an hour. Or did you forget? The mighty Kaze late for class? Ha! Never in a million years would you skip or such. Why, just the other day…_**

**_"_****_Ace, shut up. It_****_'_****_s Saturday." Kaze groaned, cutting the other boy off. Ace blinked slightly and pulled himself up, laying his head back on the pillow. _**

**_"_****_Damnit…"_**

**_Later in the evening, Ace strolled back to the dorms with a box of pizza in his hands. It seemed the two roomies had decided to order out rather than suffer the food, or excuse for it, which the cafeteria served on weekends. Yes, there was nothing like the sweet scent of pizza to brighten any college student_****_'_****_s day. Of course the additional mozzarella sticks Ace had bought helped to increase his hunger. _**

**_"_****_Hey Ace, ordered out tonight huh?" a female voice called to him from the side path. He looked over to the side, at the source of the voice._**

**_"_****_Renee _****_…_****_hey,_****_"_****_ Ace replied looking at the girl as she walked over towards him. She stood a few inches shorter than Ace and was wearing a black t-shirt and a three-quarter sleeve jacket. Her hair was down today, a look that Ace thought worked well for her. The blonde streaks complemented her light brown hair nicely, as well as her lightly tanned skin. She looked back at him with her hazel eyes as she brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, Kaze and I figured, tonight wasn_****_'_****_t the night to eat the recycled crap they pass off as food."_**

**_Renee smiled again and nodded. "Oh yeah, haha. Well, enjoy your dinner. I gotta get ready to go out. Some of the girls and I are going to the bars." She shrugged and looked down towards the cement. "Want to come?"_**

**_Ace blinked slightly and looked up at her with a slight look of surprise. "I uh…well, I_****_'_****_d love to but, I don_****_'_****_t really go out much…sorry." He admitted, looking aside for a second. _**

**_Renee nodded and shrugged. "Well, have a good night then," she replied as she slowly turned away and headed back towards her own dorm._**

**_"_****_Hey wait, how about we hang out tomorrow…or something?" Ace called to her, causing the girl to stop in her tracks. She turned around and nodded._**

**_"_****_I_****_'_****_d like that. Send me an IM or something,_****_"_****_ Renee replied with a slight smile._**

**_"_****_Will do…have a good night,_****_"_****_ Ace replied as he walked back into his dorm building. He stepped into the elevator, stepped out and walked down the hall into his room. Ace blinked for a moment, hearing Kaze talking. As far as Ace knew, Kaze was alone in the room…and he sure as heck didn_****_'_****_t talk to his parents. Something happened to Kaze as a kid. Ace never really knew the details, but it had something to do with Kaze_****_'_****_s little sister._**

**_"_****_I can_****_'_****_t believe you guys are here…Betamon, Koromon…how did you get here?" _**

**_"_****_We have no idea. I mean, yeah things have gone downhill since the time you and…well since you were last in the Digital World. Some evil has taken control of the world, and enslaved or killed most of the Digimon._****_"_**

**_"_****_Yeah, so Betamon and I somehow ended up here…we really have no idea how but, you still have your Digivices right?"_**

**_"_****_Of course,_****_"_****_ Kaze replied, rising to his feet. "Let me just go get them…" he said as Ace stepped into the room with a confused look on his face. He set the Pizza down on the table and looked at the two creatures in the center of the room. _**

**_"_****_What the…who the… where the…" Ace stammered as the two creatures looked up at him. One was a pinkish ball with thin floppy ears, and the other had this large fin on the top of its, oval shaped body. _**

**_"_****_Calm down Ace, just relax. I_****_'_****_ll explain everything,_****_"_****_ Kaze sighed lightly and looked down at the Koromon. _**

**_"_****_I made my first trip to the digital world with my sister, Mizu, when I was fourteen and she was ten. It was there that I met my partner digimon, Tanemon," Kaze motioned towards Betamon and nodded, "and Mizu met her partner, Koromon. We explored the place not sure what to expect. We didn_****_'_****_t really have a way back so, rather than sitting there we looked around. We spent around a month in the digital world, where we spent nights in some tents that we pitched at a nearby lake. Each morning, we_****_'_****_d trek out again, to explore new sectors of the digital world. Then one night, the last night I was in the digital world, we were attacked by a Gesomon, which looks like a very large, very pissed off squid. It destroyed the tents and then focused on us. Koromon and Tanemon tried to defend us, but their attacks just had no effect. The Gesomon grabbed Mizu and Koromon in his tentacles and slowly retreated back towards the lake. Mizu screamed for help, and I did all I could, and it was at that moment that my digivice began to glow and Tanemon became Betamon. Though he was only a child level, his attack was strong enough to free Koromon by cutting off one of Gesomon_****_'_****_s tentacles and the two attacked again, but it was too late…" Kaze whispered as he reached up and swiftly wiped a tear away from his eye. _**

**_"_****_The Gesomon had vanished below the surface of the water with my sister still in his grasp. I didn_****_'_****_t know what to do, I dove into the water and swam down as far as I could, but I couldn_****_'_****_t see anything. It was too dark….I had no choice, I had to resurface. When I did, I found Mizu_****_'_****_s digivice floating next to me. I took it, swam out of the water, and was taken back to this world. I tried to get back, but it wouldn_****_'_****_t let me. Of course I was blamed by my parents…they think I killed her. They thought…but they weren_****_'_****_t there!" Kaze yelled before collapsing to his knees, crying, or at least that_****_'_****_s what Ace could tell._**

**_"_****_Kaze, I never knew that. I mean…well so these things…" Ace started to say._**

**_"_****_Forget it. Look, I_****_'_****_ll be back later,_****_"_****_ Kaze said as he rose to his feet, brushing past Ace as he walked towards his drawers. He opened the top one and pulled out two devices in the shapes of squares, well not really since the four corners were curved inward. There was a screen in the center, with two smaller buttons on the right side and a large one on the left. _**

**_"_****_Whoa, wait a second Kaze, where are you goin?" Ace asked, stepping in his friend_****_'_****_s way. _**

**_"_****_You heard them, something_****_'_****_s wrong. I_****_'_****_m the only one who can take care if it…now please, out of my way,_****_"_****_ Kaze said as he shoved past Ace and held the two Digivices out in front of him. A crack erupted from the center of the room, and a wind storm kicked up in the dorm. Ace shielded his eyes as lightning shot past Kaze, out of the vortex that he had created. _**

**_"_****_Take care buddy,_****_"_****_ Kaze said quietly as he and the two Digimon stepped into the vortex. It slowly closed behind them, leaving Ace in the room, watching the swirling mass shrink. But then it stopped in its position for a moment, before exploding outward again. _**

**_"_****_Back so soon?" Ace asked, a bit puzzled that the trip was so short._**

**_"_****_Well, what do we have _****_'_****_ere? Looks like we gots ourselves a weak lil human,_****_"_****_ a deep voice chuckled. Out of the vortex stepped a large green ogre-like creature, holding a club. He grinned as he smashed his club against his hand._**

**_"_****_Ehehehe, don_****_'_****_t be scared human. Dis won_****_'_****_t hurt…much! Bone rod!" The digimon chuckled as he slammed his bone-like club down on the table next to Ace. The wood splintered as the table smashed into too many pieces to count. _**

**_"_****_Crap, crap…" Ace muttered as he struggled to stand and run, but he was cornered. The ogre Digimon before him just had too long of a reach, and his club only added to it._**

**_"_****_Oh well, I_****_'_****_m sure you had a good life…" Ogremon chuckled as he raised his club again to strike._**

**_"_****_Demi Blast!" a new voice called seconds before a ball of fire impacted on the ogre digimon_****_'_****_s back. Both Ace and Ogremon looked back at the spinning vortex in the center of the room. A second fire ball came flying out of the vortex and smacked Ogremon right in the face, causing the green ogre to stagger back._**

**_"_****_Demi Blast!" the voice yelled again as three new fireballs flew out of the vortex and nailed Ogremon right in the face, knocking the Digimon on its back. "Psh, don_****_'_****_t mess with my partner…" the voice said as a new figure appeared from the vortex. This blackish-reddish little tyrannosaurus stepped onto the dorm floor and looked over at Ace. The creature had green spikes down hits back and green tribal markings on his mouth as well as arm._**

**_"_****_Partner?" Ace asked looking at the dinosaur that had now decided to jump on Ogremon_****_'_****_s face. _**

**_"_****_Yep! Name_****_'_****_s DemiTyrannomon and I_****_'_****_m here to…well for one, save you from the ugly thing under my feet…but two, to give you lovely little digivice. Oh, and to bring you back with me. Now, where did I put that thing?" DemiTyrannomon grumbled as he padded himself down, looking for the digivice. "Oh, there it is!" he said, hopping off of Ogremon_****_'_****_s face and walking over to Ace, pointing to his watch._**

**_"_****_Er, this is just a watch. I got it for Christmas last year."_**

**_"_****_Oh ye of little faith, it_****_'_****_s a Digivice, just watch." DemiTyrannomon replied as he touched the watch with his claw. Sure enough, the clock began to glow and emit a beam of pure white light. As the light faded, the thing strapped to Ace_****_'_****_s wrist wasn_****_'_****_t the watch anymore. No, it had changed, evolved really into a Digivice. It was different than Kaze_****_'_****_s, at least in looks anyway. For one, it was colored in black and red, black for the base, red for the highlights. It had a screen in the center with two buttons on the left of the screen, two on the right and one large on under. The strap and the outside of the screen had similar markings, some sort of alphabet._**

**_"_****_That_****_'_****_s the Digivice Omega, very new, and very awesome if I do say so my self." DemiTyrannomon grinned as Ace just stared at the thing strapped to his wrist. _**

**_"_****_So, I lost my watch?" he asked, not quite sure what to make of the situation. _**

**_"_****_No, it has a function… yeah it can pretty much do anything and everything."_**

**_

* * *

_**

_"__Ok so that__'__s where it all started over six months ago. After I got the digivice, me and DemiTyrannomon joined Kaze in the digital world and it was there that Koromon evolved into Black Agumon. So now, both of his Digimon are at the child stage, and mine is as well, always has been. The barrier between the worlds has been weakening and some crazy clown Digimon known as Piedmon is attempting to take over not only the Digital World, but ours as well. We__'__ve been able to keep the attacks minimal but lately they have been getting worse and the Digimon coming out have been stronger. It__'__s only a matter of time before we can__'__t handle it…"_

_

* * *

_

Ace looked up from his notebook, grabbed the glass of water he had on the desk and took a sip. Behind him, the familiar sounds of the latest Halo game exploded out of the TV.

"Demi, come on lower the damn volume. I'm trying to write my memoirs here…"

"Why? You're not an old fart yet…" Demi trailed off, obviously paying more attention to the game and taunting someone into the headset. "Oh, what? What? Shot gun fail! Loser!"

"Just keep it down Demi," Ace replied as he stood up from his chair.

"Oh hey, wanna get me a soda?"

"Not really. Get off the Xbox and go get it your –self...hm?" Ace held his left wrist up as his D-Omega flashed and started to beep. He pressed the button on the left of the screen, reading the information as it appeared on the screen.

"Shut that off, we gotta go,"

"Aw but come on, there's five minutes left in the match…" DemiTyrannomon whined, looking at his partner trying to appear as cute as he could.

Ace just looked back at him with a blank stare on his face. "…no"

* * *

**Digital Invasion**

**

* * *

**

Ace, dressed in a black white and navy blue wind breaker dashed across the parking lot, sliding behind one of the parked cars as twin missiles streaked across the sky, exploding in the air a few yards away from him. He raised his arm to shield his face from the heat and debris. Ace panted lightly, ran his hand through his short, ruffled brown hair and rested against the cool metal of the car. He was sweaty, out of breath and very, very tired. This probably wasn't the best place for him to be, especially when he was just getting over the flu. But duty calls…and it seemed Kaze needed just a little help. He received a phone call about half an hour ago from his roommate mentioning something about a digital gate opening and then the static cut him off. That was all the motivation he needed to get out of bed and rush to his buddy's aid.

"Kaze, where are you?" Ace yelled out from his place behind the car. No reply. He coughed a bit and slowly popped his head over the top of the car. Across the parking lot was the assailant. A dark blue serpent-like dragon Digimon with mechanical wings and other mechanical parts grinned as he closed his two twin smoking hands/missile ports.

"Gigadramon…" Ace grumbled and looked at DemiTyrannomon. "I figured Kaze would be able to take on one Perfect with his two partners…"

"Yeah well… he is." DemiTyrannomon pointed to the sky where Seadramon, a sky blue sea serpent, was flying after a red version of Gigadramon. The digimon was known as Megadramon and it became apparent as to why Kaze called for help.

"Mega Flame!"

Ace looked as a pillar of black fire flew out of Kaze's BlackGreymon's mouth and in front of Megadramon, causing the dragon Digimon to hold off his flight.

"Heh, got ya now. Ice Blast!" Seadramon yelled as he fired a beam of ice that impacted Megadramon's wings, encasing them. The dragon roared in fury as he fell out of the sky and crashed onto the parking lot below.

"Brother! I'll get you for that human!" Gigadramon growled as he used his tail to kick off of the ground and took off into the air. He opened his twin launchers and aimed them at Seadramon. "Gigabyte Wing!" he yelled, launching dozens of missiles at Seadramon. The sea serpent Digimon was caught almost completely off guard as the projectiles made contact with its body. Seadramon vanished behind a cloud of smoke. Betamon fell from the sky, limp and landed on a parked car, collapsing the roof.

"Betamon!" Kaze yelled, running from his hiding spot behind a partially burnt out van and crossing the crater ridden parking lot. The Gigadramon narrowed his reptilian eyes at the human and opened his mouth to roar. Drool fell from its mouth as the android Digimon opened his right arm. Without so much as a warning, a large missile blasted out of Gigadramon's claw and headed right towards the unconscious Betamon with the intention of removing that pest once and for all.

Kaze watched in horror as the missile streaked past him and headed right for his partner. Once again he was powerless to do anything. He couldn't get to Betamon in time and BlackGreymon, a deep blue tyrannosaurs looking Digimon with a hard bone covering over its head with three horns coming out of it, was involved with the Megadramon that had gotten up. It was like what happened with his sister all over again... Kaze just dropped to his knees mid stride and closed his eyes fighting back tears. Moments later an explosion rocked the parking lot and a wave of heat washed over him. He didn't have the heart to open his eyes, to see the carnage and flames where his partner once laid…

"Get your ass up Kaze!" Ace's voice called, causing the boy to open his eyes. There hovering in the air was Ace and his partner Dragonmon who resembled a black four legged dragon, who was approximately fifteen feet long with a long slender neck and powerful tail ending in a cannon with a scythe over it. He had two large wings on either side of his body and silver armor that covered the top of his head exposing twin horns that swept towards his tail. His shoulders and knees were also armored giving the Digimon a formidable look.

In Ace's arms was a safe and sound, albeit unconscious Betamon.

"How did you do that?" Kaze asked, completely dumbfounded that everyone was all right. He held his arms out as Ace handed Betamon down to him.

Ace had a large grin on his face and patted Dragonmon. "We're creative," he said with a small shrug and hopped off his partner's back. "Dragonmon, let's get rid of these two before they level the entire block," he said before turning to look back at Kaze who was holding Betamon in his arms, once again seemingly in a daze. "Kaze, you come on, you have your sister's Digimon to worry about, and he's being double teamed." Ace smacked Kaze on the back rather hard, probably harder than needed but it seemed to do the trick. Dragonmon kicked off of the ground as Kaze snapped to attention, placed Betamon behind the wrecked car and charged full speed towards the battle, leaving Ace standing there.

"That's not what I meant you idiot!" he yelled, and took off after Kaze. "Don't be so hasty," Ace yanked on the collar of Kaze's shirt and pulled him to a halt.

Kaze spun around and glared at Ace for a moment. "What did you do that for? You almost choked me!" Kaze yelled.

"Everything is going to hell fast, we have to get out of here," Ace yelled back. As if on cue, Dragonmon came crashing down next to the boys, bloodied battered and bruised. BlackGreymon wasn't far behind and slammed into an exploded SUV. The two boys looked back in the direction where their Digimon had come from. Rather than the twin dragon Digimon, there was now a large mechanical dragon armed to the teeth.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Ace asked backing away slowly as the mechanical behemoth roared. The twin cannons on his back collected energy inside them and began glowing with an white light. Once they reached full power, the cannons fired, launching twin beams across the sky and out of view. It seemed whatever the massive Digimon was aiming at wasn't close bye.

"I don't know…" Kaze replied pulling out one of his two D-Omegas. He hesitated for a moment and sighed. In his hand was his sister's digivice. "She was always the one who loved to catalog things…" he said quietly as her D-Omega scanned the Digimon before them.

"Got it, that's Machinedramon an Ultimate Level Digimon. It's said it is one of the most powerful Digimon, with its Infinity Cannon, Booster Claw and Catastrophe D, it's capable of destroying anything it faces…" The ground suddenly shook violently. The twin beams had found their mark, the large Loudon Tower, the sky scraper that stood as the signal of their town.

"We can't let it stay here! It'll destroy the whole city. Maybe we can send it back for the time being, I know it'll wreak havoc in the Digital World but, that's better than having thousands die here. At least the other Digimon have a fighting chance" Ace said, pressing a few buttons on his D-Omega trying to open up a digital gate.

"There!" he yelled proudly and pressed one more button. A ray of light shot out of the Digivice and opened a spinning portal at Machinedramon's right foot, about the size of its claw.

"Oh yeah, he's going back." Kaze responded in a sarcastic tone.

"Don't be a smart ass. Open up a portal with your digivices then."

"But you're doing such a lovely job."

"Just do it!" Ace yelled.

Kaze had already started opening the portal on Mizu's digivice, and then his own. The portal around Machinedramon's claw grew larger and larger and soon, the creature's foot fell through the portal. The mechanical dragon roared in confusion and attempted to right itself, but the portal continued to grow larger and larger until it was no longer in this world. The portal sealed up behind Machinedramon leaving the two boys and their wounded Digimon standing in the war-torn parking lot.

"We should probably get out of here, I'd hate to try and explain this one to the cops." Kaze sighed, materializing Betamon and BlackAgumon in their digivices.

* * *

Half an hour later, Ace collapsed on the top bunk once they were safely back in the dorm. Going out to save Kaze may not have been the best idea he had that day. There was a lot of running involved and he just didn't have the energy for that. The sun had set on their way back making the room nice and dark for Ace to attempt a nap. Kaze on the other hand was not sick. He turned the lights on and started pacing back and forth in the bedroom with his hand on his chin.

"There must be some way to deal with that Machinedramon. You know it'll be only a matter of time before it returns. We can't even touch it now. You saw what it did to our partners."

"Ughn….sleep" Ace grumbled, pulling the pillow onto of his head in an attempt to drown Kaze out. Unfortunately for him, Kaze wasn't talking to Ace, he was thinking out loud.

"I mean, how do you even deal with an Ultimate? We've stopped a few rampaging Perfects but that was due to the fact it tends to be a three on one. Also, who knows how long Machinedramon will stay in the digital world. We know the barrier has been weakening since Piedmon took more control over the Digital World." Kaze paused in his pacing and glanced back at Ace. "You're not listening to me at all are you?" he asked shaking his head. Ace's only response was a light snore. "I thought so…" Kaze grumbled, picked up a tennis ball and chucked it at Ace's head. The ball bounced off and Ace shot up in an instant, looking around rather confused until his eyes settled on his roommate.

"Aw not cool bro! I was sleeping here. You know I was sick and I busted my ass to save you today, why are you throwing your balls at me?" he asked, grinning at the immature joke he had made.

"Ace, these are you're balls first of all, and second, we need a plan of attack for when that Machinedramon comes back."

"What can we do Kaze? You saw the size of that monstrosity. It took out Demi and BlackAgumon in less than a minute. We're lucky we got it back and you want to try and fight it. For god sake, Loudon Tower was blasted to all hell! Maybe we've bitten off more than we can chew. Piedmon's armies got more aggressive when we intervened and they even started following us back here and attacking our world. We're causing more damage than we're fixing…" Ace replied, sliding off the top bunk and landing smoothly on the bedroom floor.

"Ace, that's not true. We've helped so much. What Mizu and I started…"

"Kaze, that's your problem. Since the Digimon came here, you've been on this crusade to save their world. It's almost as if you think you can bring her back by doing so. I'm sorry but she's dead…nothing will bring your sister back and getting yourself killed will not help at all. I can't keep this up; I've put off so much for what feels like a losing battle. Never before did I feel so helpless, so useless..."

Kaze narrowed his eyes at Ace and in an instant, slugged his roommate in the face. The force of the blow caused Ace to stagger back and hit the bed frame as he cupped his cheek in pain.

"You didn't know her so don't you dare speak of her!" Kaze growled raising his hands ready to strike if Ace made so much as an aggressive move. "Don't you think I can tell we're getting our asses handed to us lately? There's a reason we were chosen for this, and I am not about to let my sister die in vain. If you want out, the fine, fuck you and get out. But don't you dare tell me I have a problem. If anyone has a problem here Ace, it's you. Have you asked Renee out yet?"

Ace shifted uncomfortably and sat down on Kaze's bed. "That has nothing to do with it Kaze."

A knock on the door interrupted the two, cutting Kaze off before he could snap back. Ace watched Kaze walk out of the bedroom and into the living room. He watched as Kaze and Renee walked into the bedroom, well Renee did. Kaze just leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed.

"Hey, I heard some yelling. Is everything all right in here?" Renee asked quickly moving her hazel eyes from Ace to Kaze.

Kaze nodded. "Yeah, I was just going to get dinner, I'll leave you two alone," he replied giving Renee a smile. "I'll catch you kids later." With that, he was out of the room leaving Ace alone with the girl of his dreams.

Renee smiled softly at Ace sighing lightly. "So, is everything okay?" she asked again, arching an eyebrow at him. She reached her hand to his face and gripped Ace's hand in hers causing him to blush lightly.

"Oh my gosh, what happened to your face?" she asked noticing the welt on his cheek from where Kaze had hit him moments before. Ace winced and turned his head away as he stood up, sliding his hand out of her grasp.

"Nothing, we just got into an argument," Ace replied, attempting to quickly dismiss the topic. He walked over to the doorway and leaned against the wall looking down for a second. "Hey Renee, sorry I haven't been around much lately." Ace looked up and smiled slightly at the girl. "Listen, I was thinking maybe sometime you and I could…get dinner or something."

Renee blinked slowly as she looked back at Ace. "But we get dinner a lot during the week…of course we can silly!" she smiled and tilted her head to the side. Ace however just sighed. She clearly didn't understand what she had asked. So he would have to try again.

"No Renee I didn't mean it like that. What I was asking was, would you want to go out, like on a date with me?" he asked. Renee perked up in her seat and mouthed something to Ace but he didn't notice. He was too busy explaining himself. "I've known you for so long and I really like you and I…wait what did you say?"

"Yes," she giggled. "You really need to relax. I've been waiting for months for you to ask me. I was coming here to ask you that myself. I can't believe it took you so long." Renee rose to her feet and walked over to Ace. She grinned slyly and looked up at Ace. "You know, you're kind of short for a guy" she teased, poking him in the chest."

"What? N-no I'm not. I'm five-ten, that's a perfectly normal height for a guy! You're just tall for a girl." He replied as Renee put her arms around his body.

"So, where are we going on this date of ours? Some place nice I hope. Oh! Can we go to Outback? I love those Bloomin Onions…" Renee drifted off, slowly rambling as to all the places she wanted to go. She seemed quite excited which was awesome for Ace.

"We can go tonight if you want to. I got nothing planned." Ace replied.

"Hm, do you think it's safe? I heard about the terrorist attack on Loudon Tower and what happened to Diego Plaza today," she asked with a worried look on her face.

Ace opened his mouth to reply but his D-Omega started to beep. He blinked and quickly pulled back from her and held his hand over the digivice. "Uhm, hang on a second okay?"

Ace backed up and spun around, and quickly looked at the digivice. On the screen, an image of a letter flashed.

"You set an alarm?" Renee asked, peering over his shoulder to get a look at Ace's watch. Ace looked back at her and smiled, shutting the beep off and holding his D-Omega behind his back.

"No, it's a text message from Kaze. Hang on a second," Ace sat down on Kaze's bed and read the message. It mentioned something about a disturbance by the lake near the school, which was wonderful, Ace wanted to spend the evening with Renee but leave it to Kaze to ruin it with some 'disturbance'

"Kaze is down by the lake and wants me to come check something out. So I'll go do that and come back and we can go out?" Ace asked smiling at Renee hoping she wouldn't want to come with him. That's all he needed was Renee to get hurt if that Machinedramon busted out of the gate.

Renee smiled and nodded. "Okay, but you better not take too long. It's bad to stand up a girl on your first date," she said and walked over to him, leaning down and placing a soft kiss on Ace's forehead. "I'll be waiting for you."

Ace grinned and watched her as she walked out of his bedroom. "I swear to god Kaze, this better be worth it…" he grumbled as the door to their dorm closed.

* * *

It didn't take long for Ace to drive over to the lake. He slowed his charcoal colored SUV to a stop, shut the engine off and climbed out. The headlights remained on for a few seconds illuminating the path down to the water's edge.

"Kaze?" Ace called as he took a flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on. The faint beam of light cast out a few feet in front of him and moved over trees, rocks and of course the shore. There wasn't sign of anyone, no Kaze, no digital gate, nothing.

"I don't like this Ace," DemiTyrannomon said, virtually appearing out of nowhere next to his partner. "It smells funny here, there's a Digimon nearby that's for sure…"

Ace nodded and took off along the shore of the lake, moving the flashlight from side to side, checking the water surface and the bushes for any movement. If there was something here, he was going to find it.

"Hey Ace…" DemiTyrannomon called, tugging on his partner's jacket. Ace turned to look back at the dinosaur Digimon who was pointing out into the middle of the lake. He shone the light on the water and watched it bubble up. The water the shot up as a massive white squid head emerged from the water and quickly moved across the lake. It became apparent why it was moving so quickly. A few feet back, Kaze and Seadramon had surfaced and were chasing the white squid.

"I'll destroy you Gesomon! Get back here and face me for what you did to my sister. Seadramon, don't let it escape!"

"Ice Arrow!" Seadramon roared, letting a stream of jagged sharp ice fly at the fleeing Gesomon. The shards of ice hit the water around Gesomon's head, freezing it and cutting the cephalopod off and forcing it to surface. The Gesomon flailed its tentacles, showing one was severed, like the wound Kaze said his Betamon inflected on the Gesomon who killed his sister.

Ace watched the squid like Digimon just flail, not even attempting to attack as Seadramon poised its self for the final blow. All Gesomon needed to do was dive and it could escape the simple ice barrier that surrounded it.

"Kaze stop, it's not a threat!" Ace yelled. DemiTyrannomon began to glow white and encased its self in a cocoon of light.

"DemiTyrannomon, evolve to…" the cocoon shattered revealing the large dragon-type Digimon. "…Dragonmon!"

Ace climbed onto the dragon's back as Dragonmon kicked off the ground and beat his wings to get some elevation. The pair raced over the water, causing a wake to kick up behind them as they headed towards Gesomon and Kaze.

"You'll pay for what you did to my life, to my family and to my sister! Seadramon, send this poor excuse for a Digimon to hell."

Seadramon didn't even make a sound as ice collected in its mouth. Before he could launch the attack however, Dragonmon smashed into the sea serpent Digimon, sending the ice attack off into the sky. Kaze and Ace crashed into the water near Gesomon, both thrown from the force of the impact. Ace was the first to resurface and climbed up on the ice with Kaze following closely.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? This Digimon killed my sister! It doesn't deserve to be alive!" Kaze yelled and threw a punch at Ace. This time, Ace side stepped the blow and grabbed Kaze's arm, locking it behind his back.

"Calm down and open your eyes Kaze. This Digimon hasn't attacked at all. It's been doing nothing but trying to get some distance on you. Why don't we talk to it before you go and kill it? If this is the same aggressive Digimon as your story, you'd be mid battle right now."

"Tch, fine," Kaze grumbled. Ace let his grip go and Kaze stepped towards Gesomon. "So, why are you here? Coming to finish what you started eight years ago?"

The Gesomon shook its head, looking almost sad, which was difficult since it always looked aggressive and had no visible eyes. "No" it said softly.

Ace arched an eyebrow. The voice sounded much more soft and feminine than the creature looked. He glanced over at Kaze who also had the same look on his face.

"What did you say? Why are you here?" Kaze asked again, his voice was less threatening than it was before, it sounded more confused.

Gesomon pulled its self out of the water and climbed up onto the ice standing a its full height of eleven feet. "I came to find you brother."

Kaze staggered back, looking completely dumbfounded. He seemed lost in thought, almost in shock. "M-Mizu?"

"What?" Ace asked, looking at the Gesomon then back at Kaze. Did you just ask if that squid is your sister? How? You said she died…" The humans weren't the only two confused. Dragonmon and Seadramon remained close by, both with puzzled looks on their faces.

"It sounds like her…"Seadramon muttered to Dragonmon.

"Yes brother, it's me," Gesomon said quietly. "I've missed you so much…I just had to see you again." A tentacle slowly extended towards Kaze and rubbed against his chest, then went limp on the ice.

"Mizu, but…you died. How did this happen? How did you get here?" he asked, trying to rationalize everything that was going on.

"When Gesomon took me under the water I held my breath as long as I could until they felt like they were going to explode and then everything went black. I don't know how it happened, but after I blacked out, I was in this body, partially in this body. Gesomon exists in here as well. We merged into one being and I've lived on." Mizu explained. "It's like our data became one…" Mizu raised her tentacles as if shrugging. "So, uhm surprise big bro!" she giggled, which in Ace's opinion just made the whole Gesomon body look really creepy since it was essentially a lizard like mouth on a squid top.

Kaze however was still in shock. He hadn't moved since the Gesomon started talking in Mizu's voice. Ace poked Kaze in the arm once, twice and then finally reeled back and slugged him in the bicep. Kaze winced in pain and glared at Ace.

"Well, good you're not a zombie. Dude, say something. It's giving us a really creepy look," Ace whispered nudging his head at Gesomon.

* * *

The clock on the dashboard read 8:52 as Ace shook his head with a small grin on his face. The SUV drove down the road back towards Cobleskill University. Kaze was in the passenger seat and the Digimon were back in their D-Omegas. The vehicle came to a halt at a red light and Ace let out a small sigh.

"It's pretty amazing that your sister is alive even if she is trapped in the body of a Gesomon. Think she'll be okay at the lake?" Ace asked as he leaned his head back against the car seat.

Kaze shrugged, tilting his head to look back at his buddy. "Yeah, if she survived eight years in the digital world, she should be okay here. Haha it's not like we have the Loch Ness Monster in the neighborhood."

Ace chuckled and stepped on the gas once the light turned green. Kaze was taking this pretty well, though they did just spend the last few hours at the lake while the siblings caught up on old times. While that was all fine and dandy, Ace had rushed them so he could get back before nine and take Renee out to dinner. Of course in his haste, he forgot his cell phone in his room so he had absolutely no way to contact Renee. Ace pressed his foot down on the accelerator as the car sped up and quickly moved down the road. It only took a few more minutes, but Ace's car came to a stop in front of Renee's town house.

"You wait here. I'll be right back…oh and please get in the back," Ace said as he hopped out of the car and shut the door behind him. He ran up the path, over to Renee's front door and knocked on the door. To his surprise, the door opened quickly to reveal an annoyed looking Renee. Ace's eyes moved over her body, noticing the white shirt, black half jacket and dark jeans she had on.

"Where have you been? It's been three hours Ace!" Renee asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot angrily.

"I'm sorry, Kaze got himself into some trouble down at the lake, we just got back and I forgot my phone. I'm here now though, that's what counts right?" Ace grinned as innocently as he could.

Renee rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yeah, just please don't make a habit out of this?" she asked, closing the door behind her. The two walked to Ace's car and got in. Renee looked at Kaze in the back seat and smiled. Kaze returned the gesture.

"So you guys can just drop me off at the room. You crazy kids have fun tonight." Kaze said nonchalantly.

"Are you sure Kaze? Have you eaten? I mean you could join us if you want," Renee offered with a smile.

Kaze chuckled and shook his head. "I'm sure Renee, this has been a long time coming. Don't let me be a third wheel." Kaze got out of the car once it stopped and closed the door behind him leaving Ace and Renee alone.

"So! Where are we going on this first date you're a few hours late for?" she asked, slipping her shoes off and putting her feet on Ace's dashboard.

Ace focused on her bare feet for a moment and slowly moved his eyes towards her face. He thought about commenting on the fact that her bare feet were going to leave marks on his windshield but decided against it.

"Oh, I was thinking that little shack down the road, Joe's Sushi, or we could always go to Lee's Pizza," he grinned and pulled away from his dorm building.

"I've always thought it should be Lee's Sushi and Joe's Pizza. Something about it being the other way around just seems wrong to me," Renee replied smiling back at Ace.

"I do remember someone saying Outback…"

"Ah-ha, so you do pay attention sometimes hm?"

"Only on the important things Ace chuckled and turned down the main road heading towards the shopping plaza."

* * *

"So then, Auna said that nothing was going on in her room and just then, Dennis Stewart came out from the room behind her holding his pants against himself," Renee said with a laugh as she set her margarita down on the table. It was her third one of the night, though Ace couldn't really talk since he was working on his third as well. On Renee's suggestion, they were going to go to the movies next door and watch something to sober up before they attempted to drive back to the college campus.

"Sounds like you have one crazy set of house mates. Kaze and I don't have that issue of naked girls in our room," Ace grinned at Renne in the dim lighting of the Outback and ripped off an onion fry from their Bloomin' Onion.

"Not yet you don't," Renee said in a low voice. She rubbed her foot against Ace's leg and smiled slyly at him.

Ace gulped and felt his cheeks getting warmer. She was just as seductive and beautiful as she was in his dreams, but it wasn't in him to do something like screw on the first date, and it didn't seem like her as well. Even when intoxicated, he wanted to wait…though it'd be so easy to just do it and blame it all on his loss of control later.

"No, not yet," he replied and reached his hand across the table to take Renee's hand in his own. "maybe when I have a girlfriend."

Renee's eyes softened with Ace's gentle contact with her. She gave his hand a small squeeze. "You're sweet, why did you wait so long to ask me out anyway?"

Ace took a long sip of his margarita, finishing off the glass and set it down on the table. He shuddered from the sweet taste of the drink. "Well, I never thought you'd say yes. I didn't think I was your type or good enough for you really…"

"Oh? You're an idiot, you know that?" she said bluntly, catching Ace off guard.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "Gee, it's gotten really quiet here hasn't it?"

Renee paused and looked around. There didn't seem to be anyone around the two, then again it was late, probably almost 10, so she just assumed a lot of people had left while they had been there.

"Okay, we have the New Zealand rack of lamb for the lamb for the lady, and the half rack of ribs for the gentleman," the waiter said placing the plates in front of their respective owners. "Oh, with your meal comes a complementary surprise. You see, I am studying to be a magician and I was hoping I could try a trick out for you two."

Renee smiled and nodded at the waiter. Ace turned to look at the male as well. He was rather tall, probably pushing 6'3, skinny build and had dark black emo style hair. "Sure, let's see what you got," Ace encouraged.

The waiter grinned and rolled his sleeves up. "As you can see, nothing up my sleeves, nothing in my hand…ah may I?" he asked as he reached down to the table and picked up Ace's napkin that he had yet to set on his lap. The napkin was unfolded and held open to show both sides to the couple.

"I wonder what he's going to do with it," Renee whispered with an excited look on her face.

"Wonder no longer my dear. I say the magical words, Abracadabra," he held the napkin over his open palm, dropped it against his skin and pulled it off exposing three little key chains in his hand.

Renee clapped her hands as Ace arched an eyebrow to get a better look at the items in his hand.

"Oh, would you like to see them?" the waiter asked, picking the three key chains up and dangling them from his fingers.

Ace's eyes widened in horror as he looked at them, then back up at the waiter. "Where did you get those?"

"Why I made them, aren't they wonderful?" the waiter asked, getting a sinister grin on his face.

"Oh they're so cool!" Renee giggled, taking one of them from the waiter. "Hey, this one looks kinda like Kaze."

"And the other two…BlackAgumon, Betamon…" Ace gasped.

The waiter grinned and took a step back from the couple. "Very observant my dear. It is in fact Kaze, and his Digimon." The waiter morphed in form, growing a few feet and changing his attire to a red top, green pants, oversized yellow boots and four swords strapped to his back. His hair grew back and yellow as a black and white mask covered his face. "Ace! Did you think you two could stop me for long? Oh silly human. He didn't even put up much of a fight"

"Piedmon!" Ace gasped trying to back up but he was trapped against the booth wall. "How did you get here?"

"When Gesomon came, I followed it and hid. You led me right back to Kaze's location and I found you rather easily thanks to a minion of mine that hid in your car." Piedmon laughed.

"Well, I guess the coward would finally show his face after all this time. Sorry we had to kill so many of your lackeys." Ace said defiantly to draw Piedmon's attention to himself.

It worked; Piedmon grabbed Ace by the neck and lifted him effortlessly into the air. "Why you insolent punk! I could snap your neck right here and now. But that wouldn't be much fun. Then again, watching you die would be oh so entertaining. Hm, decisions decisions…" Piedmon mused, tapping his chin with his free hand.

Ace growled, and managed to grab Renee's alcoholic beverage. He hesitated for a moment and threw it in Piedmon's face.

"Argh!" Piedmon growled, attempting to wipe the alcohol out of his eyes and dropped Ace back into his seat. Ace leapt up and shoulder checked the Ultimate level Digimon in the gut, knocking it back and giving Renee room to run.

"Renee, get out of here, it's not safe!" Ace yelled as he ripped BlackAgumon and Betamon's key chains from Piedmon's hand. He tossed them to the very confused and terrified girl at the table. "Did you hear me? Move now-ah!" Ace yelped as Piedmon grabbed Ace's leg and hurled him across the restaurant.

"Ace!" Renee cried out as she scrambled from the table and dashed over to where he had landed. Ace groaned in pain as he lay against a splintered table. He weakly opened his eyes and looked at Renee.

"I'm sorry… you have to get out of here…don't let him…get you."

"No, I'm not leaving you. Get up, we have to go now!" Renee tugged on his arm trying to get him to move with her.

Over in the previous aisle, she heard a glass break, which could only mean that the clown creature was coming for Ace. Renee crawled behind the crashed table and peeked through a crack as Piedmon came into view.

"Oh look how sad this is. One light throw and the human is down. It's a shame really, I was hoping for a fight. If you're all like this, consider this world mine!" Piedmon laughed and suddenly stopped. He knelt down next to Ace and frowned. "Oh, what's the matter? No snappy come back? Aw, you're so fragile and frail. I suppose there's no point in keeping you alive is there? My keychain collection is gone, though I could always start a new…but with the effort it takes to getting the whole set, I don't think it's worth it. Oh woe is me!" Piedmon groaned, feigning an upset voice. His face returned to its normal sinister grin as he reached behind his back and drew one of the four swords attached there.

Renee held her hand over her mouth and backed away from the ruined table in front of her. She couldn't watch Ace get skewered…

"Good bye pest!" Piedmon pulled the sword back, and thrust it down towards Ace.

"Demi Blast!

"Coral Crusher!"

The first attack hit Piedmon in the face, blocking his vision for a moment. The second hit the sword away and out of Piedmon's hand sending the blade flying across the restaurant.

"Why you insolent little…" Piedmon growled and settled his eyes on DemiTyrannomon and Gesomon. DemiTyrannomon stood next to Ace with narrow eyes and growled defiantly while Gesomon was at the entrance to the establishment.

"I won't let you hurt anyone Piedmon. I will protect my brother and his friend!" Gesomon yelled in Mizu's voice.

"That's right! We'll stop you somehow!" DemiTyrannomon growled, moving to block Ace from Piedmon's attacks.

"Oh how cute, you think you can even stand up to me." Piedmon mocked, raising his foot and kicking DemiTyrannomon aside.

"Coral Crusher!" Gesomon yelled out again, smashing Piedmon with its tentacles and knocking him across the restaurant, away from Ace and Renee.

Piedmon growled and pulled out two of his swords. He twirled them around for a moment and glared at Gesomon. "Ugh, how dare you! Trump Swo-"

"Demi Blast"

Piedmon was hit with a few blasts of fire in his face, enough to distract him for the squid Digimon before him. He glared at DemiTyrannomon. The small dinosaur clenched Piedmon's sword in his claw, ready for a fight.

"Come on ugly, show me what you got," DemiTyrannomon taunted, holding his middle claw to him and grinned.

"Trump Sword!" Piedmon yelled, throwing three swords at DemiTyrannomon. The dinosaur Digimon's eyes widened as he dove to avoid them. Piedmon only grinned as the swords changed direction midair and came straight down at DemiTyrannomon, ready to skewer him.

"Coral Crusher!" Gesomon called out as her tentacle wrapped around Piedmon's leg. The Ultimate level Digimon looked down in confusion as Gesomon lifted him off of the ground and smashed him face first, once, twice, three times into the hard cement floor leaving an impact crater.

Gesomon's attack broke Piedmon's concentration allowing DemiTyrannomon to roll away at the last moment and narrowly avoid a very painful death. He stood ready to fight again if Piedmon stood up.

"Oh, I see, this is the game you two are playing. I do love games, really. But don't you think a two on one is a little unfair? How about we even the odds?" Piedmon chuckled as he slowly stood up with blood dripping from his mouth. Other than that, he seemed to be in good condition, which made DemiTyrannomon take a step back.

"Demi Blast!"

Piedmon watched the attack come closer to him and at the last moment grinned. "Clown Trick!" he said as he held his hands in front of his body. DemiTyrannomon's attack paused in mid-air for a second and then flew back at the dinosaur Digimon at an alarming speed. The fire ball connected with Demi, sending him crashing next to Ace.

Renee crawled out from behind the table and shook Ace. "Ace wake up! I don't know what's going on but these monsters are fighting to save you. Please, we have to go!"

Ace groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "My head is killing me…" he grumbled as he attempted to focus on his surroundings. His eyes focused in on Piedmon advancing towards Gesomon across the restaurant and suddenly he was on his feet. "Mizu! Run, what are you doing?"

Gesomon sighed, looking back at Ace and Renee. "Tell my brother, I love him…"She extended both tentacles at Piedmon.

The clown Digimon grinned, and in one swift motion severed both of her tentacles at once. Gesomon screamed out in pain.

"D-Deadly Shade!" Gesomon opened its mouth, spewing a black ink like substance on Piedmon.

"Is that the best you can do?" Piedmon asked, shaking his head and continued to advance on Gesomon. Piedmon gripped his sword and impaled Gesomon's head above the mouth then slashed below the mouth, cutting the Digimon in two.

"Mizu!" Ace screamed in horror as blood and ink flowed from the still creature.

Piedmon pulled his sword out of the Gesomon, wiped it clean on a napkin and turned to look at Ace.

"It's a shame really, I hope you like calamari though."

"You bastard! I'll kill you for what you did! You'll pay for all the lives you've claimed humans, Digimon all of it! It's all your fault you bastard! I swear it, I'll make you suffer!" Ace took a step towards Piedmon, his fists clenched ready for battle.

Suddenly the restaurant was filled with a bright light white, causing Ace, Piedmon and Renee to shield their eyes from the intensity.

"Ace, tell Kaze I'm sorry. It's the only way I could have saved him." Mizu's voice said from all around him. The key chains floated out of Renee's grasp and landed next to Ace. At once the three were bathed in an intense rainbow light as all grew to their normal size. The light faded and one by one they all appeared alive and well again.

"Kaze!"

"Ace! Piedmon's here he's coming for us! We've got to get out of here and grab Mizu…"

Ace shook his head and put his hand on Kaze's shoulder. "He got you, your sister saved us. She sacrificed herself to save you…"

The light dimmed and returned to normal. Kaze looked around at his surroundings and settled his eyes on Piedmon.

"Oh shucks, you're all back to normal. Well, I suppose I can start my collection all over again." Piedmon chuckled, pulling out a white cloth.

"What is he doing?" Ace asked in confusion. "I don't want to see another magic trick…"

"Move! Don't let it touch you." Kaze exclaimed and started to run away. Ace turned towards Renee and offered his hand to help her up. She took it and the two of them ran in the opposite direction of Kaze to make the targets smaller.

Piedmon watched Ace and Renee run for a moment before throwing the white cloth at them. Ace felt Renee slip out of his grasp and stop.

"Renee what are you doing?"

"I don't know what's going on but I have a feeling you're the only one who can stop this. Please…don't let him kill anymore..." she said and gave Ace one last smile as the cloth wrapped around her. Electricity coursed over the cloth for a moment before it fell to the ground.

"Aw, I missed. No matter, I'll just keep it as a memento of this glorious day!" Piedmon knelt down and picked up a keychain that looked just like Renee, fashioned it to his waist and grinned at Ace and Kaze with their Digimon. "So, who's next?"

"We have to stop him, Renee and Mizu sacrificed themselves for us. We can't let that be in vein," Ace said, looking at Kaze.

"Mizu…" Kaze muttered, clenching his fist.

Ace clenched his teeth as he tried to think of a plan. There had to be something to do, too many people sacrificed themselves for him and Kaze today for them to die here.

"Huh?" Ace muttered as his D-Omega began to beep. He raised his left arm to examine the digivice. Printed on the screen were two strange words he had never seen before. 'Bio-Merge'

"Kaze, check your digivices. Do you see what I see?"

Kaze held out his two digivices. "Bio-Merge?"

"It's worth a shot," Ace shrugged and held his left wrist in the air. Kaze held his two digivice up as well.

"Bio-Merge Activate!" The two yelled in unison.

Once again the room was filled with a blinding white light. Piedmon growled and held up his right arm to shield his face.

Ace was surrounded by a cocoon of light along with DemiTyrannomon. The two began to spin as Ace's clothes ripped off and his body merged with DemiTyrannomon's. The two formed one body and shattered the light cocoon revealing a warrior clad in white armor, standing at about 10 feet tall. He had a large X on his chest, twin katanas at his waist and eight angelic wings on his back. His head was encased in a helm like helmet with a small golden horn front and center and two small ones on the side. The face behind the helmet look similar to Ace's and even had his light brown eyes.

"X-Omnidramon!" The Digimon called out in a hybrid of Ace and DemiTyrannomon's voices.

Kaze was surrounded by a cocoon of light along with Botamon and BlackAgumon. The three began to spin as Kaze's clothes ripped off and his body merged with the Digimon's. The three formed one body and shattered the cocoon, revealing a draon-esq samurai clad in black and gold armor. The feet of the Digimon resembled BlackGreymon's, and his head looked like a sleeker armored version of the tri-horned dinosaur. He held twin swords, with digital markings on them.

"Gaioumon!" The Digimon yelled in a hybrid of Kaze, BlackAgumon and Betamon's voices.

Piedmon grinned as he looked at his two new foes before him. "Oh? Could this finally be the challenge I've been waiting for? Do you believe that fancy light show will help you beat me?"

"Not only will we be a challenge for you…" X-Omnidramon said, taking a step towards the clown Digimon.

"…But we'll send you to hell where you belong." Gaioumon finished, brandishing his twin swords.

Piedmon's only reaction to the threat by the two Digimon was an even wider grin. "Oh? Is that so? Well then, I'm shaking in my boots." He giggled. "Well Kaze, how about you, why don't you come get revenge for your little sister. She screamed real well when I impaled her." Piedmon taunted, bouncing back and forth from foot to foot.

"I'll gut you!" Gaioumon snarled, gripped his two swords and charged at Piedmon.

"Rinkazen" he called out, slashing at Piedmon with his twin swords, moving them so quickly it seemed to bend the light around the blade. Piedmon leapt back, easily avoiding the attack and drew his own blades.

"Trump Sword" Piedmon yelled, hurling four swords at Gaioumon. The samurai Digimon raised his blades in defense and swung at the incoming swords, knocking them back. Gaioumon swung with his right sword, but Piedmon easily deflected the slash with a sword that had returned to him. The remaining three swords circled around and struck Gaioumon in the back, digging through the gaps in his armor and lodging themselves in his back.

Gaioumon screamed in pain before collapsing to his knees. He dropped his swords, reached back, gripped the hilt of a blade and slowly pulled it out of his body.

X-Omnidramon surveyed the scene. Piedmon had no weapons and though Kaze could use some help right now, there seemed no better time to attack the clown Digimon than now. He ran at Piedmon, drawing both katanas as he got close, slashing as he drew each one out.

Piedmon growled as he leapt back to avoid the attack. "That's not very nice Ace, attacking an unarmed opponent. Didn't anyone ever teach you proper battle edict? "

"Oh please, like you'd give us that courtesy,"

"You're right…Clown Trick!" Piedmon suddenly yelled, sending a shockwave across the room, picking up tables and chairs and using them as projectiles.

X-Omnidramon slashed a table in half, then a chair and kept going, trying to get all the big chunks before they could hit him. But Piedmon's attack sent a lot of debris at him and a table smashed into his head as he slashed at a chair coming for his legs. X-Omnidramon flew back from the force of the impact, landing hard against the wall.

"Ending Snipe!" Piedmon yelled, holding his hands together in the shape of a gun and pointed them right at X-Omnidramon. Electricity surged around them for a moment before a blast of energy shot forward and impacted on X-Omnidramon, cracking his chest armor, and shattering the X off of it.

"Kaze…" X-Omnidramon coughed, gasping for breath, "this isn't working…" he groaned, looking over at Gaioumon as he pulled another sword out of his back.

"No shit… we may have this new power, but he's been at this level for a lot longer than us."

"Ace, try the Shine Bomb" DemiTyrannomon's voice echoed in Ace's head for a moment. X-Omnidramon slowly rose to his feet and held out his left hand. A ball of light collected in it for a moment until it was about the size of a tennis ball.

"Hey Piedmon," he said slowly looked at his assailant. "Try this one on for size. Shine Bomb!" X-Omnidramon hurled the small ball of light at the clown Digimon. Piedmon re-materialized his swords, freeing Kaze from pulling the last one out of his back and attempted to slash through the attack. To his, and everyone's else's surprise, the ball of light exploded in a bright, intense white light very similar to a flash bang.

Piedmon swung his sword wildly since he couldn't see if an attack was coming or not. But nothing happened. When Piedmon got his vision back no one was in the restaurant with him. "Running away? Too bad, I guess I'll just keep this one key- what? Where did that go? Those little thieves took it from me while I was blinded!" Piedmon felt his waist for the Renee keychain but found it empty. "Well, let's play tag!"

* * *

Outside, X-Omnidramon and Gaioumon stood in the ruined parking lot, trying to compose themselves after the beating they took.

"Did you get it?" X-Omnidramon panted, looking at Gaioumon with hope in his eyes.

"Yeah," Gaioumon responded, holding his hand out and placing the Renee keychain in X-Omnidramon's palm.

X-Omnidramon attached it to his belt, then looked up at the chaos around them. It seemed Piedmon hadn't come in quietly. Before the evil Digimon posed as a waiter, it seemed he had caused major havoc outside. Cars were on fire, dead bodies were everywhere and in the distance, sirens blared.

"Son of a bitch, my car!" X-Omnidramon cried, dashing over to the flaming hulk that was once his SUV.

"I don't know how we're going to explain this…" Gaioumon chuckled, trying to make light of the very dire situation they were in.

"Hopefully they won't try and shoot us…" X-Omnidramon replied.

"So, here you two are!" Piedmon called, floating above them. "I love a good game of tag, and now that I've found you..." he drew his four swords again with a wicked grin. "…you're it!" he hurled the blades down at the two Ultimate Digimon.

X-Omnidramon jumped up off the ground and rose into the air, avoiding the two swords that were aimed at him. Gaioumon slashed the blades out of the air, knocking them to the ground and impaling them with his own sword, shattering them into useless pieces of metal.

"Hey ugly, try this on for size. Heavenly Sabers!" X-Omnidramon slid his two swords against each other and fired a beam of holy energy towards Piedmon.

Before Piedmon could even react, Gaioumon held his katanas like a bow. Energy beams appeared creating a string and arrow ready to fire. "Rinkageki!" The twin attacks flew at Piedmon from different directions, making it impossible for him to block both.

"Clever…" Piedmon said quietly as his two swords returned to him. He held them in an X, blocking X-Omnidramon's attack, but in doing so left him wide open for the energy arrow Gaioumon had fired. He screamed in pain as the arrow sliced his calf and faltered a bit in the air.

"Damnit, I only grazed him" Gaioumon grumbled and preparing to fire another arrow. Before he pull the energy string back, police cars screeched to a halt surrounding parking lot. Gaioumon, X-Omnidramon and Piedmon all turned around and watched as the police exited their cars and vans, some dressed in full S.W.A.T. gear and others armed with combat shotguns.

"Surrender you…uh…put your hands up and surrender whatever you are!" one cop with a megaphone yelled.

"Are they serious?" X-Omnidramon asked arching an eyebrow at Gaioumon. The samurai Digimon shrugged his shoulders not quite sure what to make of the prompt police response.

"Oh, what's this? More pitiful humans come to play." Piedmon chuckled and floated down, slowly walking towards one of the police cruisers. The cop held his shotgun at the ready, aiming it Piedmon's chest.

"Hold it. Get on the ground right now or I'll open fire!" the cop yelled out, releasing the safety on his shotgun. The clown Digimon just grinned and slowly advanced towards the officer. "I'm warning you, one more step and I will fire. Get on the ground now!"

"Oh, this game should be fun." Piedmon chuckled and took one more step towards the cop. He was met with a powerful blow from the buckshot and flew back a few feet from the force of the impact.

The cop sighed out relief and turned his gun towards Gaioumon. "Put down your weapons and surrender yourself! I am not jo-" the cop froze mid-sentence as Piedmon rose back to his feet. The holes blown into his shirt from the buckshot closed slowly.

"Well, that wasn't very nice. I dare say, that was almost rude. But since we're exchanging blows, what say it's my turn?" He held his hands out in front of his body and crossed his fingers to resemble a gun. Energy collected from his arms and shot down to his fingertips, expanding into a large ball. "Ending Snipe!" Piedmon yelled, and a moment later, the cop was nothing more than a bloody smear on the pavement.

"Ten points for me! Now who's next?" Piedmon chuckled, pointing his fingers at a group of S.W.A.T. members exiting their van. "Oh, that must be worth loads of points," he chuckled reading to blast at the unsuspecting S.W.A.T. members. Before the blast could leave Piedmon's fingers, X-Omnidramon landed in the way and raised his swords. Piedmon's energy blast impacted on the blades for a second as X-Omnidramon held the attack at bay.

"I won' let you kill again," X-Omnidramon grunted from behind his swords. "You…will be defeated!" With one push, X-Omnidramon slashed through the attack, dissipating into the air.

Piedmon grinned. "So, these humans are important. Let's see you protect them all. Clown Trick!" he waved his left hand as if throwing a ball underhanded. A shockwave flew and lifted a parked car up, sending it hurtling straight at the police line.

Gaioumon moved first, standing in the way of the car, holding his arms out to shield the police as best as they could. The vehicle impacted on Gaioumon for a moment before exploding and dropping to the lot on all four wheels. The warrior Digimon fell back slowly, pieces of his armor lay scattered around him as he landed with a thud.

"Kaze!" X-Omnidramon called as he dashed over to the fallen warrior Digimon.

"Oh, didn't see that one coming did you?" Piedmon chuckled. The clown Digimon slowly began walking towards Gaioumon and X-Omnidramon. "Clown Trick!" With a wave of his left arm, a piece of road literally ripped itself apart and hurtled towards the crouched X-Omnidramon.

The angelic warrior had just enough time to look up before the slab of road smashed him in the face, sending him flying and crashing into the windshield of one of the police cruisers.

"I guess there's not teaching you kids. Look both way before you cross the street. Mommy would not be happy with you both." Piedmon mocked, shaking his head. The clown Digimon grinned wickedly as he made his way over to Gaioumon.

"Y-you... I'll st-stop you" Gaioumon coughed as Piedmon knelt down over his body. Gaioumon's arm shakily and weakly gripped Piedmon's shirt.

"Tisk tisk, Kaze. You're just getting blood over my outfit." Piedmon rose to his feet, removed one of his swords from the sheathe on his back and gripped the hilt in both hands. He raised his sword over his head and brought the blade down at Gaioumon.

"Hey ugly!" Ace's voice called out from across the parking lot. Piedmon held up, stopping his slash mere inches from Gaioumon's neck. He looked over at X-Omnidramon in time to see the angelic warrior spread his eight feathery wings and hover inches above the pavement.

"Eight-Winged Attack!" X-Omnidramon accelerated rapidly, moving faster than Piedmon could track with his eyes. X-Omnidramon drew closer to Piedmon, his wings stiffened and turned into eight razor sharp blades ready to slice the clown into tiny pieces.

Piedmon reacted as best as he could, holding his sword in front of him unsure of where the attack was coming from. His sword deflected one of X-Omnidramon's wings moments before three sharp objects sliced his arm and leg.

X-Omnidramon came to a stop a few yards away. There was no way the clown would be able to stand after that. "Heh, take that freak!" he laughed confidently as he turned to look at Piedmon. To his surprise, the clown Digimon was wounded, but not down and out.

"That was a good try boy…" Piedmon growled, holding his blood soaked left arm. "Unfortunately for you, you've only made me angry. I was content with playing along with this charade, but now... Clown Trick!" Piedmon waved his good arm, sending a shock wave across the ground. It lifted up Ace's SUV and send the vehicle on a collision course with X-Omnidramon.

This time, he was ready. X-Omnidramon grabbed his swords and slashed an X through the SUV, separating it into six useless parts which collapsed to the ground before him.

"Damnit, where did he go?" X-Omnidramon asked, looking around but spotting no sign of Piedmon. He ran over to Gaioumon and knelt down next to the injured samurai Digimon. "Don't move."

X-Omnidramon closed his eyes and held his hands over the fallen warrior. The two of them were bathed in a white light which seemed to heal Gaioumon's wounds rather quickly nearly restoring the samurai to full strength.

"Above us…" the light faded once Gaioumon spoke. X-Omnidramon looked up as Gaioumon raised one of his swords at Piedmon who was hovering hundreds of feet in the air. "I'm thinking he's going to use that energy blast again, and with the distance he has, it'll only get bigger and take out...a lot of people."

"Well, we can't let that happen can we?" X-Omnidramon shook his head, grabbing Gaioumon's hand and taking off into the air, slowly and steadily gaining altitude. "Fuck you're heavy Kaze…"

"Just don't drop me…"

Piedmon continued to collect energy in front of his fingertips focusing his sight on the scrambling officers below. He grinned, the shifted his glance, catching X-Omnidramon and Gaioumon fly up to meet him. "Oh? So you two have decided to witness the rise of Piedmon's Empire in the human world. I'll start with the decimation of your local enforcement, then your town."

"Rinkagek!"

Piedmon's eyes widened, and cut the attack as he moved to the left to avoid the attack. "Tch, and you thought that would get me? Childish attempts from weak individuals" Piedmon gloated, drawing his two remaining swords.

"No, you played right into our hands…Shine Bomb!" X-Omnidramon hurled the ball of light at Piedmon once again. The clown Digimon growled, raised his swords and shut his eyes to avoid the blinding effects of the attack again.

"Sorry, that won't work twice. You need some new tricks, I'm rather bored of your show," Piedmon mocked as he lowered his guard.

"Oh good, cause we thought we'd try something new. Now Kaze!" X-Omnidramon grunted, and hurled the armored samurai Digimon higher into the air, right at Piedmon.

The clown Digimon raised an eyebrow, watching as Gaioumon began to glow with a neon green energy. "What are you doing? Stop! I'll get you! Trump Sword!" Piedmon panicked, throwing his swords at X-Omnidramon and Gaioumon.

"This is for my sister you bastard! GAIA REACTOR!" Gaioumon yelled out, creating a neon green sphere around himself which grew and grew until it hit Piedmon's foot. The sphere quickly collapsed back on Gaioumon and exploded with massive force, knocking X-Omnidramon back and enveloping Piedmon in the blast.

"MURAAAAAAH!" Piedmon screamed in pain as the blast ripped him apart, destroying him completely.

Gaioumon panted, exhausted as he fell down towards the earth below. He picked up speed and watched the ground get closer. His fall was suddenly stopped as X-Omnidramon grabbed his arm.

"I thought you were going to let me fall."

"I considered it, you are heavy as hell Kaze." X-Omnidramon carried Gaioumon over the parking lot and out of sight of the police forces.

"Are they following us?" Ace asked, glancing down at Gaioumon.

"Nope. I think they're still dumbfounded as to what just happened back there. There's the back of the campus, let's set down there, you're flying is getting slower."

"Oh thank god…" X-Omnidramon opened his hand, dropping Gaioumon twenty feet down to the ground. He chuckled and gracefully landed next to the upside down samurai.

"Ow…ass hole" Kaze growled, pushing himself off of the ground.

"Well, you insulted my flying," he responded taking the keychain off of his belt and settling it down on a tree stump. "Why isn't she back to normal? Piedmon is dead…"

"I don't know…" Kaze replied as he reverted out of his Gaioumon form and back into his human form along with Black Koromon and Tanemon.

"Why don't you ask your partner?" Tanemon asked bouncing along the ground. "He might know some of X-Omnidramon's abilities."

X-Omnidramon closed his eyes and held his hands out over the Renee keychain. A rainbow aura moved from his hands and surrounded the keychain.

"See, I told him!" Tanemon grinned bouncing up and down on the ground around Kaze.

X-Omnidramon lowered his hands as the aura subsided. "It's not working…" he grumbled noticing that nothing happened.

"What, did you want something instantly?" DemiTyrannomon's voice rang out inside Ace's head. Keep your pants on will ya."

The keychain began to glow and slowly grew until Renee was back to her full height.

"Renee!" Ace exclaimed happily as he reverted to his human form.

"Ace, we're alive!" she ran into his arms, holding him close to her body. "Oh thank god!" She cheered, kissing Ace on the cheek.

"So cute…come on, let's get inside." Kaze suggested. "We'll fill in the gaps."

* * *

"Wait, I was a keychain?" Renee asked, arching an eyebrow at Kaze. "That explains the memory gap…" Renee grumbled from the futon.

"You know, you're taking all of this really well…" Kaze replied before taking a bite of his pizza.

"Well, I'm just glad to know I'm not insane. I've heard you and Ace for months talk into your watches and stuff. Plus I always had a feeling that there was something else going on here. I'm just glad you're both all right, and I'm the big hero."

"Huh? How does she figure that? " DemiTyrannomon asked, sitting down on the floor with a slice of pizza in his claws. "I don't remember her doing anything important…"

"I dunno, I think she's delusional." Betamon replied as he bounced back and forth on his fins.

"Well, I saved you from the cloth, allowing you to become X-Omnidramon and all…so, without me you'd be a keychain!" she giggled, poking Ace in the nose, leaving him with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Hey, the news is on." Kaze said, raising the volume on the TV.

"Good evening, I am Josh Muller for WLXP 11 news. Tonight's top story, it seems the terrorist attacks as of late were the work of strange creatures. Amateur video has shown random monsters over the span of the last few months but were all written off as hoaxes. However, startling new video taken from a police car camera and civilian video seem to confirm that these monsters are in fact real!"

Ace and Kaze exchanged glances before settling back on the screen. "You think they got us?" Ace asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

"I sure as hell hope not. That's the last thing we need…"

"Shh, I can't hear" Renee silenced them, turning the volume up even louder. On the screen, a shaky video of X-Omnidramon and Gaioumon battling Piedmon played for a moment before pausing and returning to Josh Muller's face.

"As you can see in this video, the angel and the samurai defended local police from the clown who took the life of Officer Ryan M. Greensmith earlier this evening."

Kaze hung his head as the reporter carried on, turning away from the TV. BlackAgumon and Betamon looked at their partner with a concerned looks.

Ace snagged the remote from Renee and shut the TV off, allowing Kaze to sigh deeply. He looked up at the others in the room and smiled at them weakly.

"You know, all my life I've been blamed for the death of my sister. I would tell myself that she needed me and I failed her. But I guess she never needed protection, she was a strong girl, and because of her, we're alive now." Kaze stated, slowly rising to his feet. "Mizu, I thank you for your sacrifice. Because of you, the Digital World is safe…" Kaze reached down, and took hold of a bottle of coke. "To Mizu" he smiled, holding his bottle in the air.

"To Mizu" Ace and Renee replied, returning the salute.

"Now, let's see what else is on TV." Kaze grinned as he turned the TV on and flipped through the channels, stopping on _Dirty Jobs._

"Oh I love this show!" Renee cheered, leaning in against Ace as he put his arm around her.

"Now, let's just enjoy this night." Kaze smiled.

"And savor our victory." Ace added focusing back on the TV.

**End**


End file.
